The owner of the Los Angeles Times has blocked the paper from endorsing a candidate for president this yea

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times has reportedly blocked its editorial board from endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

Members of the editorial board were all set to endorse Harris for the most powerful position in America, but earlier this month, executive editor Terry Tang told staff members the paper would not be endorsing a candidate for president, two people familiar with the conversations told Semafor.

She reportedly said the decision came straight from the paper's owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor who made his fortune in the healthcare industry.

The decision marks a major departure for Harris' home state newspaper, which has exclusively endorsed Democratic presidential candidates since then-Senator Barack Obama ran in 2008.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/billionaire-owner-blocks-the-la-times-from-endorsing-kamala-harris/ar-AA1sJSHO

[BComplex]

1. Kicking so more eyes can see this.

The owner of the paper should see sales of his publication drop substantially.

[BattleRow]

31. L.A. End Times

[LymphocyteLover]

43. Oy, so many freaking cowards in the media... and it is self-defeating. Bastards.

[BComplex]

52. LOL

[MineralMan]

2. The Editorial Department should issue a full-sized paper

With all pages blank, except for this statement on each page, in large, bold type:

"This page is intentionally left blank."

[forgotmylogin]

25. Yep. In this case a "mulligan" says more than if they just endorsed. n/t

[Tetrachloride]

3. Kirk, you will find a way

[RockRaven]

4. Mask off time. If you read the LAT, now you know what kind of editorial

distortions and manipulations you are potentially being exposed to every day. Is that the sort of "news" you want?

[barbtries]

5. this is fucked up!

the oligarch speaks.

[rubbersole]

18. Time to bring back the Telecommunications Act.

[onenote]

24. Huh? Sarcasm?

Trying to make sense of your post.

[rubbersole]

30. It used to be ownership of media outlets was restricted.

Massive corporations controlling the "news"/message is a cancer on democracy. Billionaires buying elected representatives and media platforms is becoming the norm. It's on the ballot like never before. Government is the ONLY thing that can rein in this massive concentration of wealth. Repubs encourage it. Dems have a generational struggle ahead to reverse this trend. People vs unlimited money. No guarantees as who will prevail. Nov 5th is a good start.

[DENVERPOPS]

33. YES

The best Media and Republican Politicians money can buy............

[DENVERPOPS]

34. Yes

The best Media and Republican Politicians money can buy............

[onenote]

42. Ownership of newspapers like the LA Times has never been regulated.

[rubbersole]

62. You are correct.

Your options were greater when there was more competition. Journalistic integrity was paramount. Editors weren't just rubber stamps in independent newsrooms. Yeah, I know...and a quarter would buy you a cup of coffee...

[soandso]

44. While I don't know about news "papers"

It was the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that allowed the corporate monopolies of news stations and that was promoted and signed by Bill Clinton. As far as I'm concerned, no corporation or individual should own more than one news outlet. Even that wouldn't help the fact of individual newspapers being controlled by billionaires, though.

[Volaris]

6. Id do it anyway, only NOW its going on the front page because its not JUST editorial,...

it'll be national news when everyone gets fired.

[Quiet Em]

7. Freedom of the Press

They need to defend their right and publish the endorsement.

A search of the owner shows he wants a role in a Trump administration, health care czar

[marybourg]

10. The "freedom of the press" belongs to he who owns the press.

In this case the owner of the L. A. Times.

[Quiet Em]

12. I didn't know that.

That's awful.

Time for folks to cancel their subscriptions then.

And thank you for the clarification on this.

[Johonny]

8. As he's falling out the window

I hope he remembers his neutrality . . .

[Kid Berwyn]

9. "I'm President Xi Jinpeng and I approve this message."

"Me approve too, Done-old."

[usonian]

11. Well, there goes California. (BLUE)

Hope that magat moran brought his diving gear.

[Nevilledog]

13. Owner is from South Africa and friend of Elon Musk

[S/V Loner]

14. What is it with these South Africans?

Musk, Thiel and now Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.
I guess they are still pissed about losing apartheid there and have plans to bring it back here in the States..

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

32. I weary of South Africans having power here

Need to raise taxes so they don't have money to cause mischief with.

[Joinfortmill]

37. Apartheid

[GreenWave]

54. Exactly. This is why the GOP want forced babies from Caucasians,

Their Apartheid acquaintances lost Big Time in South Africa from being the minority.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

39. The L. A. Times local TV news via Spectrum has been on default for months.

I've tried to override the default in settings, but to no avail. I looked this guy up a year ago and felt comforted by his bio. But knowing he has a similar path as Musk is upsetting. There is a 19 year age difference. And his work is extremely admirable...

"American businessman, investor, medical researcher, philanthropist, and transplant surgeon. He is the inventor of the drug Abraxane, which became known for its efficacy against lung, breast, and pancreatic cancer."

"He has committed to the Giving Pledge and has pledged to give away at least half of his wealth to philanthropy."

[tenderfoot]

56. Theil is German

I think he romanticizes the Third Reich rather than Apartheid. One and the same really.

[S/V Loner]

58. Thiel did live in...

South Africa for a while.

[tenderfoot]

60. Ah, I did not know that... thanks for the info.

Makes sense... lol.

[Cha]

15. Fascist Asshole.. Tough Shit.. California is Going FOR

VP Harris & Gov Tim Walz in Spite of his Authoritarian Bullshit!

[bdamomma]

40. Such bastards!!!! LA times

The voters will have something to say about that!!!!!! VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cha]

46. The Filthy Rich Fascists are Everywhere! Too Bad

For them.. This is a People Powered Election For VP Harris and Gov Tim Walz & Democracy!

[likesmountains 52]

16. kicked ..

[4catsmom]

17. so is it really journalism anymore

when the paper is censored? This is a disgrace. Much like Elon and X.

[senseandsensibility]

19. Absolutely not

It is not journalism. I have degrees in both Journalism and K-12 education. What is happening in journalism today is the equivalent of a school principal telling teachers that they can't explain concepts to their students. For informational purposes, there are "scripts" in teachers' textbooks that tell them what to say to students when they teach. But NO good teacher limits themselves to that. When students don't understand, teachers access the problem and adjust accordingly. So while a principal could cover themselves by saying that if you read the script and nothing else you are technically "teaching", it would be real instruction in name only. And that's what's going on in too much of journalism today.

[orangecrush]

20. There are times

When integrity is more important than a job.

This is one of them.

Time for them to speak out.

[Bev54]

21. Another reason to find and follow trusted independent journalism.

Time to put these oligarch's out of business.

[et tu]

22. billionaires rule the world

we have to win, we just have to-

[bdamomma]

41. Those

people like Musk, Thiel, and the Owner of LA Times hopefully will choke on that greed.

[33taw]

23. Independent news needs to report this.

Stop reading and watching MSM.

[Stardust Mirror]

26. Exhibit #1 on how our press is not free

owners will fire anyone in their company/paper/channel who goes against their politics
and all the people working for said owner know it

that is how the press becomes biased

it's ok to have biased press if reporters/outlets are free to express their own biases and it's ok for owners to direct those biases but it's not ok when there are only 15 individual people who own/control 90% of all media in the country. There should be as many independent owners of media as there are varied points of view. Ownership should be limited to the billionaire class.

[PortTack]

27. DU...drop your subscription if you have one

[verargert]

28. Patrick Soon-Shiong is a South African

[onenote]

47. He's also a naturalized US citizen.

[Wednesdays]

55. So, too, is Trump.

And Charles Manson.
Your point?

[onenote]

57. No. Trump is a natural born citizen.

Point is that facts matter.

[marybourg]

59. No. If he were he couldn't be President. Presidents must be "natural-born citizens"

according to the Constitution.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

29. I had been thinking of returning to the LAT

After stopping the Post. Years ago I dropped NY Times over Judith Miller.

But not now. Wonder what the Editorial Board will do...

[Joinfortmill]

35. Hope they boycott the paper.

[twodogsbarking]

36. It ain't just newspapers

And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
'Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want

John Mayer

[ancianita]

38. Patrick Soon-Shiong, born to Chinese immigrants in South Africa. Turns out he's one brilliant & uncomplicated human.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Soon-Shiong

Soon-Shiong's net worth is $6.2 billion as of 2024.[9] He has been called the richest man in Los Angeles and one of the wealthiest doctors in the world.[10]...

from the New Yorker 2 years ago... a fascinating profile of a highly accomplished human. No wonder he and Elon are friends.

Soon-Shiong founded NantHealth in 2007 to provide fiber-optic, cloud-based data infrastructure to share healthcare information.[37] Soon-Shiong went on to found NantWorks in September 2011, whose mission was "to converge ultra-low power semiconductor technology, supercomputing, high performance, secure advanced networks and augmented intelligence to transform how we work, play, and live."[38][39] It owns a number of technology companies in the fields of healthcare, commerce, digital entertainment as well as a venture capital firm in the healthcare, education, science, and technology sectors. Particular technologies include machine vision, object and voice recognition, low power semiconductors, supercomputing, and networking technologies.[40] In January 2013, he founded another biotech company, NantOmics, to develop cancer drugs based on protein kinase inhibitors. NantOmics and its sister company, NantHealth, were subsidiaries of NantWorks.[41]

In 2013, Soon-Shiong became an early investor in Zoom, the video conferencing company.[42]

In September 2014, NantWorks LLC, a company headed by Soon-Shiong, invested $2.5 million in AccuRadio.[43]...the NantWorks galaxy, there is NantHealth, which builds diagnostic medical software; NantCloud, which offers cloud-computing services; ImmunityBio, which develops immunotherapy treatments for cancer; and NantStudios, a movie soundstage and visual-effects studio. There are also NantMobile, NantBioScience, NantEnergy, NantOmics, and NantGames...

Given his surgeon background and his drug research & development, his purchases of big pharmaceuticals, investments in South Africa, and his biggest project umbrella of all, Nantworks, why did he want to own the LA Times at all? Here's one clue, imo.

NantWorks’ logo is a feather emerging from a circle. When I asked Soon-Shiong what “Nant” referred to, he gestured to a ropework basket hanging from the bookshelf behind him. “You see this Apache basket? The word ‘Nantan’ stands for ‘he who speaks for the people,’ ” Soon-Shiong said. “I’m an honorary Navajo, and I’m on the Apache council. Because my job, frankly, is to help the marginalized and underserved.”

[Magoo48]

45. If it's media and owned by billionaires, it's corrupt, most likely fascist, and definitely manipulated.

[Joe Nation]

48. Well, its a newspaper, so who will know?

I mean as popular as the print media is these days, not sure anyone will notice any kind of endorsement.

[KS Toronado]

49. Every news source should interview the editorial board

and then broadcast the RW shenanigans far and wide.

[dchill]

50. Apartheid - thrown out of South Africa ...

... to be revived in USA? Stay tuned.

[jayschool2013]

51. Worker-owned journalism

From the Columbia Journalism Review

404 Media and the hopes of worker-owned journalism
April 18, 2024
By Justin R. Silverman

What is it like to place a bet in a Las Vegas casino that’s been hacked and is refusing to pay the ransom? Last September, technology journalist Jason Koebler answered that question in the style of Hunter S. Thompson: he went to Vegas and started gambling.

Koebler wrote about the bizarre conditions at the Aria, the Bellagio, and other MGM-owned casinos, which had been the victim of a ransomware attack a week earlier—with employees paying out slot machines by hand and eight restaurants forced to share a single credit card processing machine. His story was picked up by national news outlets.

It wasn’t so different from the kind of reporting Koebler had done for years at his previous employer, Vice’s Motherboard. But this time, he was doing it for 404 Media, a new publication that he, along with his three coeditors, don’t just work for, they own.

SNIP

Koebler quit his job as editor in chief at Motherboard last summer, a few months after Vice declared bankruptcy. (I worked at Vice from 2020 to 2023, and sometimes produced videos for Motherboard.) He and three other Motherboard writers and editors, Samantha Cole, Joseph Cox, and Emanuel Maiberg, launched 404 Media in August. They named it after the error code generated when an internet browser can’t find a webpage.

[orleans]

53. seen on twitter

Link to tweet

[Buns_of_Fire]

61. And the editor of the editorials page resigned because of it.

Los Angeles Times editor resigns after newspaper withholds presidential endorsement
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143327197

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times has resigned after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a journalism trade publication reported Wednesday.

Mariel Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview that she resigned because the Times was remaining silent on the contest in “dangerous times.”

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent,” Garza said. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”

In a post on the social media platform X that did not directly mention the resignation, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said the board was asked to do a factual analysis of the policies of Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump during their time at the White House.

Good for her. Good editors are hard to find. Unfortunately, wealthy naturalized nazis are way too common all of a sudden.